Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - Judit Molnár: The Spatio-Temporal Dimension of Diasporic Discourse from the Carrebian on the Canadian Literary Scene

I have chosen an intreguing collection of short stories Sans Souci (1988) to concentrate on out of her many works. What connects the ten stories in this volume is the portrayal of the genuine black immigrant experience which is the recurring theme textured in excitingly varied subject matters. This particular experience is not individualized, however, but can be rather interpreted as a collective experience. The stories nicely pieced together create an overtly politicised space, which is to some extent even provocative. The feminist view is prioritized, the gender and racial identity of the main protagonist is embedded in multiple voices. Black perspective dominates; in an intertextual remark in a story called "At the Lisbon Plate", Brand criticizes Camus for his own white approach, "[h]ow come all this high shit about Camus. Didn't it ever strike you that Meursault was a European and the Arab on the beach was an Arab? And the Arab was an Arab, but this European was Mersault." (111-12) Cross-national interpretations of specific social phenomena makes the reader acutely aware of Brand's disbelief in bridging the gap between white and black systems of world-views. In her opinion to eliminate these inherent differences would be a challenge but possible with an outcome that would satisfy neither side. The short stories can be read separately from each other; some of them appeared as individual pieces in different literary journals, but most of them are connected to each other on different levels, and thus they form a special literary space. The first story "Sans Souci" sets the tone for the whole volume. Claudine is estranged from her brutal husband and later from her children, too. The cruel female subjugation is described in a subtle poetic style, which evokes Brand's poetry: "Always in and out of seeing him, or wondering who he was and disbelieving when she knew." (5) In this small community generations live together and the male and female worlds are ostensibly distinct. The consice characterization of Mama, the bar owner, and Uncle Ranni add to the fact that Sans Souci gains real life on the pages. In "Train to Montreal" the main protagonist goes from Toronto to Montreal to meet one of her lovers. Being black surrounded by white people fills her with fear; she is shaken all through the journey: "She was surprised, really shocked at all white faces on the train. Ridiculous of course. It was amazing, given all this time, how alarmed she still was 212